


How can we not talk about family (When family is all we've got.)

by OliverLewty



Category: Transformers (Bay Movies), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Character Death, Death, Drabble, Drabble Collection, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt Sam Witwicky, Hurt/Comfort, Original Character(s), Pre-Canon, Recovery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-07
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-11-27 02:31:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20940833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OliverLewty/pseuds/OliverLewty
Summary: A rock thrown into a pool creates ripples, yet life inside rolls on. Samuel Witwickly is left to raise his six-year-old sister at age thirteen after the death of his parents. The person the Autobots meet is completely different.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Credits to my wonder Beta; Viceandvirtue who agreed to look over my work so it doesnt turn out like the mess that I usually throw about.

Life changes quickly. A sudden decision for a late-night dinner, a drunk driver and a slippery road. A situation that changes everything yet nothing at once. 

He’s still the same boy he was the other week in science class: a nerd with a best friend named Miles that joked around and played with his baby sister. He’s still the son of Ron and Judy Witwickly with a little sister named Elizabeth that is six years old. 

He’s thirteen years old and his parents are _ dead _. 

The rain pelts against the ground. Thunder rumbled in the distance and the grass grew soft. 

He doesn't move, staring at the gravestone with numbness that isn't caused by the cold but by something he can't quite describe. Cars drive by, splashing puddles. The wind whistles and howls and petals fall from the trees in the harsh winds. 

Samuel Witwicky at age thirteen is in charge of his six-year-old sister. The only remaining family he has left. 

A bird screeches overhead causing a murder of crows to scatter from the trees. 

He knows what happens to foster kids, Miles had told him when he asked. They get moved around, bounced to different caretakers and places. Sometimes siblings are separated and don't find each other again. 

Thunder and lightning crackle in the sky. The winds shift in speed and a small petal swirls in the air. 

Samuel, not _ Sam _ , or _ Sammy _ ever again, he needs to be grown-up, mature. He needs to make sure they can't take his little sister away. She's all he has left and if she leaves too, Samuel thinks he might just shatter into a million pieces.

The petal weaves through the air before stopping on top of the shared stone.

Samuel Witwicky is thirteen years old and his parents are dead. 

Life moves on. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! You want a timeline? That's OK I can.. somewhat do one. 
> 
> The Allspark falls into Sector-7's hands in 1913, and so begins the experimentation. 
> 
> 16 years later, in 1929, N.B.E-01 is found, AKA Megatron. In this year, not sure when exactly. Samuel Witwicky great-grandfather is there when they find Megatron, Archibald Witwicky, who's eyes are burnt out by big Megs. He later spends the next ten years filling one hundred and seventy-six pages and notebooks in strange(Cybertron) symbols and glyphs. 
> 
> 1998, May 6th. Elizabeth Jane 'Lizzy' Witwicky is born to Ron and Judy Witwicky. 
> 
> In 2004, Ron and Judy Witwicky die in a car crash due to a drunk driver and leave their thirteen year old son to take care of their six year old sister.
> 
> 2007, the Autobots come to earth! 
> 
> I would write more, but that would spoil things!
> 
> I hope this helps? If not just ask!

"I'm sorry Mr. Witwicky, but we can't hire you," the man says. 

Samuel smiles, even if it feels too large, too wide, too  _ fake _ . And he nods to show he understands even though all he wants to do is bash the man's head against his desk a few million times. 

"It's fine, Mr Muir. Thank you for seeing me anyway." He bears it and stands up, shook the man's hand and lets himself be led away. 

He sees some of the workers give him pitying looks and it just makes him  _ angry _ in a way he's never been before. Why are they looking at him like that? He's  _ fine! _

He smiles at them, a little too much teeth and malice and they turn away quickly.  _ Serves them right _ . He thinks to himself. 

He shoves the door open with his shoulder and began to walk back to the house. It won't ever be home again, it's too empty and dull at the moment but Samuel has ideas for it. To make it worth the little bright spot Elizabeth is. 

It's been two weeks since the funeral and Samuel hasn't once stopped searching for a job. 

His parents had a bit of money saved up, it could probably last them a few years if he used it sparingly for little anything outside of necessities.

But, he is also aware that Elizabeth needs toys, new clothes and nutritious food. 

He needs a job for that. 

What does most jobs need? Smarts. Experience. 

If a job requires intelligence, then he'll get smart dammit. He was always told he could be quite smart when he put his mind to it. Before, it wasn't needed. Now, he needs it. 

He will become the smartest person he can be. Then, hopefully people will give him a job. 

After that, well. Samuel's really isn't sure. All he really knows is that he will try his best to make Lizzy happy. 

He opens the front door, shoulder-checking it as he enters with a heavy sigh and drops the keys into the little side dish on the table. 

"Brother!" Liz cries, throwing her arms around him and squeezing tightly. Samuel returns her hug, somehow feeling even more exhausted. 

"Hey," he whispers into the still empty-dull- _ dead _ house. "I'm home." 

Liz grins up at him, full of teeth and gleeful. He smiles back, tension he didnt know about draining from his body. 

"Welcome home!" 

This… 

  
This is  _ home _

_ _


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If I'm being completely honest, so am I!! 
> 
> Bumblebee is great! I hope when he gets here I wont screw him up too much. He's a quirky character for me to write most of the time, he likes to fight with me. 
> 
> Anyway! Here you go, enjoy!

  


"Brother, brother!" Liz cheers, clinching to Mrs Robbins hand. Mrs Robbins looks like she wants to be anywhere but with his sister but is roughing it out. 

  


He gets it. Liz was always a cheerful ray of sunshine, full of happiness and laughter even after their parents death. 

  


He remembers though. What Liz acted like when they got the news and she realised that Mum and Dad won't be coming back. 

  


She didn't snap, like him. She just went quiet, often unsure of the world around her. Like something had happened that had shattered her world view and she had trouble making sense of everything around her. 

  


The light that always surrounded her had dimmed to just a little speck and it had terrified him in a way he couldn't explain. He was so scared back then that he was losing her to grief that he briefly thought he was going mad. 

  


He knows now though, that she was coming to terms with the thought that it would just be then from then on. 

  


Her grief was still there, she hadn't gotten over it somehow. It was in the way she paused before doing something in the house, as if thinking that someone should be there but wasn't. 

  


When they were watching movies on movie night and he didn't feel like screaming then, she would turn around to say something only to fall silent at the empty spots beside her. 

  


Her grief wasn't as obvious as his, where it weighed down his body and formed bags under his eyes, caused migraines to form and emotions to dull under the heavy assault. Her grief wasn't as shown as his, but it didn't mean it wasnt there. 

  


On nights where they both couldn't sleep and sat downsides on the couch, staring at the front door like all this time was just a really bad dream and yearning for their parents. For someone to hug them and tell them it was OK. 

  


Liz was a bright soul, determined to push past her sorrows in a way he couldn't. 

  


"Hey sunshine." He smiles, waving his hand. She let go of Mrs Robbins hand and ran up to him, throwing her arms around his waist and hugging him tightly before letting go. 

  


Samuel knelt down after he sent a nod to the teacher and held out her heavy coat. Liz giggles and tugs the jacket on, looking fairly cute in the bright yellow rain jacket and her fire truck red boots. 

  


He ran his fingers through her hair, fixing the strands from where they had fallen out of her ponytail into small side bangs. She was so important to him, so precious that she could've asked him to do anything for him and he would. 

  


  


  


"Home?" She asks, taking his hand when he stood up and sticking close to his side. 

  


  


"Home." He squeezes her hand and tugs her forward slightly. 

  


  


  



	4. Chapter 4

He goes back to school when not searching for a job. Because of course, it's not like he has anything important to do with his time. He's just a little kid trying to fit into a man's shoes.

He hates it. 

Surprisingly, these few weeks have been filled with nothing but hate for a lot of things. Even things that used to bring him great joy. 

Ice cream on Wednesday afternoons brings grief to his mind. Thursday mornings in the garden fixing up the plants and walkways make him tear up and Sunday movie nights in the back yard make him want to tear his hair out and scream. 

He hates that so many things that he used to love invoke an ugly feeling in his chest. 

His classmates, those he used to play with and joke around with now make him stare in annoyance and disgust. At how carefree they acted, with little knowledge of how harsh the world outside of their little families were. 

Miles. 

Miles was  _ good _ . He was steady, a rock. Unchanging even when being battered against unyielding waves in a sea he might yet drown in. 

He held Samuel up even when he was sure he would slip, even if it didn't really know how to help. He had lost his parents too young to really know them and his foster parents were always away working. He didn't really understand but it was  _ enough. _

Samuel loves his little sister, his little light. His spark in an overwhelming darkness. He does. But, now - with his rose tinted glasses snatched brutally off...

He can't help but exhaust himself spending time with her. He wants her to grow up, even when at the same time he doesn't. He loves her with everything that he has, even if it's with little pieces of his already halfway broken heart. And Miles too. 

He loves both of them with everything that he was, even if it wasn't a lot. Wasn't  _ enough. _

"Hey Sam." Miles smiles. 

Only Miles can call him Sam.  _ Only him _ . Because, in the small moments of peace, in between shared space and lingering comfort, Samuel forgets about his grief. Even if only for a little while. 

He smiles back, thinly. He knows he has bags under his eyes and his hair is messy. He more than likely looked like he just rolled out of bed, which he had. He had been up all night looking at anything to do with things that could make him smart. 

Mathematics. Science. Chemistry. Psychology. Sociology. Engineering. Physics. Biology. Literature. 

Anything he could get his hands on. 

"Hey, Waves," he says, dropping his head into his arms on the desk. He finds it funny, somewhat. Despite the rock that Miles is, his nickname is Waves. Elizabeth, is of course either Liz or Sunshine.

"Hmm.." Miles hums. Reaching over and laying his arm across Samuel's back and he relaxes slightly, allowing himself to be at peace. They don't talk much anymore. He's noticed. It's not that they don't want too, it's that they no longer have the need to. Far too used to each other's habits now. 

"Do you need me to come over tonight?" his best friend asks, not sounding at all bothered with it. 

That's another reason he loves him. Because, despite how little he remembered his parents, there was always a hole where they should be in his heart and he understood Samuel's dislike for being alone in the all too empty house. 

Miles’ foster parents don't care, he knows that. All too busy with working abroad and making money. 

"Yeah," he grunts, closing his eyes. 

Sometimes, in between the fatigue that seems to cling to him these days, he thinks that maybe Miles was meant to be his brother, but ended up being born to the wrong parents. It's something he holds close to his chest. Because, however it was meant to happen. Miles is in his life and he is his brother, no matter what anyone says to the contrary. 

He sits up when the teacher walks in. 

And maybe school is full of annoyance and hatred for him now, when there is only a little light at his home these days instead of a blazing bonfire to keep the afternoon chill away. He thinks, that with Miles besides him, that maybe not everything is as bad


End file.
